Bush provides answers in Dolphins win

Bush runs for 203 yards in Dolphins 30-23 win

December 18, 2011|Dave Hyde, Sun Sentinel Columnist

BUFFALO — First of all, Reggie Bush doesn't mind being called Hollywood. As long as it's on his terms. Like when he scored his touchdown Sunday, he did a soccer slide across the end zone that made teammates laugh and a penalty flag to fly.

"Just having fun, enjoying the moment,'' he said after the Dolphins 30-23 win against Buffalo.

Nor does Bush have a problem with the football issues people raised about him in recent years. Too small? Too fragile? Not productive enough?

"I understand the questions,'' he said. "I was hurt the last few years and I wasn't getting the amount of touches and yards. Rightfully, people should be questioning me, whether I can do it or not."

What bothered him was the opportunity that never came until he signed with the Dolphins. The door that never opened. He was labeled a specialty back without the chance to disprove it. He wasn't considered an every-down back, but had no stage to refute it.

"I know, given the opportunity, I can show that I can be a good back,'' he said.

Any questions now? Any issues left? Here he stood, fit and smiling, in the cold of a late Buffalo afternoon after carrying a career-high 25 times for 203 yards, the third-highest total in Dolphins history.

It was Bush's third straight 100-yard game. It was his fourth this year. And, for perspective, it's just the fifth in his NFL career.

"I know what I can do when given the right opportunity,'' he said.

You can analyze this Dolphins season any way you want and, front to back, side to side, inside and out, it's a lost season. When you're fighting Buffalo for the AFC East basement for the third straight year, that's statement enough.

But Reggie Bush is one of the other stories, the good stories, the kind of story that makes you hestitate at accepting the force-fed storyline on anyone. He was a celebrity more than a football player. Right? Too much sizzle and Kardashian. Right?

"I'd see him out there in the summer, working, pulling a sled by himself after practice, that surprised me,'' rookie center Mike Pouncey said.

"We'd look back going into the locker room after practice and he'd still be out there, working all alone,'' receiver Brian Hartline said. "That told you about his work ethic."

By Sunday, the guy who couldn't be an every-down back is the guy to build a game plan around. And stick with it even if it struggles. Did you see the start? Bush had six carries for 12 yards in the first quarter. His fumble led to a Buffalo touchdown.

Over the last two months, though, the Dolphins offense has revolved more and more around Bush's running. He averaged 10 carries and 3.8 yards per carry through six games. He averages 16.6 carries and 5.5 yards per carry in the last eight.

Is it comfort? Is it smarter use? It helped Sunday that Buffalo has the 28th-rated run defense. But as the game went on this offensive line without tackle Jake Long and this running back no one respected took over the game to the point late in the fourth quarter he came to the line and liked the view.

"They knew the run was coming and therewas only one guy deep, a safety, and there was a big hole,'' he said. "All I had to do make one guy miss. Kudos to the offensive line."

Kudos haven't been a big part of this season. But kudos evidently are due to fired coach Tony Sparano, the way Bush tells it, for bringing him to the Dolphins. They talked this week.

"If it wasn't for him bringing me here and giving me this opportunity, I still be … I don't know where I'd be,'' he said.

Too small. Too fragile. Too Kardashian. And the Dolphins would be without one of the few good stories their season has produced.